And I'm so fucking beautiful I can't stand it

all of which is preface to me being kind of a mean little hater and saying that some romance novels have this very distinctive style that I call Heckin Valid that's soooo annoying because you can Tell the authors are coming from a place of really well-meaning but pretty shallow 2010s internet-style #diversity rhetoric. some of the hallmarks of Heckin Valid style, to me, include:

main characters have Identities that they often feel the need to mention often and frequently Explain, even in their own internal narration.

there is often a Trans Friend. if the Trans Friend cannot be readily identified by using they/them pronouns, their trans status will either be dropped gracelessly in the narration OR the Trans Friend will verbally identify as such by saying something akin to "now, speaking as your Trans Friend..."

this may also be done with a Fat Friend. the Fat Friend is almost universally a woman, and it will always be emphasized that she is Very Beautiful because it is important to remember that fat women can be hot.

the narration is very invested in identifying the racial identity of every non-white character, regardless of how minor they are.

before engaging in sex the main couple will dutifully report to each other that they have both recently gotten tested for STIs and do not have any.

YHMAH is actually what got me thinking about this because it's an offender for basically every one of these, including this bone dry line about obligatory therapy from the epilogue

especially egregious in this example from Celine Ong's Hold Me Like a Grudge, in which the two leads (neither of whom has HIV) inexplicably wait to confirm this when they're already in the middle of sex and have already been monogamous for months

You go back and you tell the Cardinal we will continue to perform our sworn duty, which is to protect the King, and we will use every means within our power to fight him.